strike a pose

Figure Poses for Fashion Illustrators by Sha Tahmasebi comes packing 250 templates to be combined to come up with an endless of designs. The book has outlines of various figures but also has a DVD from which these figures can be printed or ‘dressed’ on-screen. The book explains the proportions used for the figures in fashion designs and does also give templates for plus-sized women, which is really nice.

There is a large selection of garments which can also be traced, printed or worked on-screen, the style of these are named and explained which would allow a student to really pick up the ‘lingo’. There are also accessories to choose from all topped of with guidance on how best to represent different fabrics and which art materials to use in the designs.

I know how popular those fashion wheels were when I was young and this is a super-duper grown up version of those. I printed off a set of the larger model figures myself and sketched out some wedding outfit designs and it certainly helped me to eliminate some combinations and it was really good fun!

This book is perfect for anyone studying textiles at any level. At £14.99 I think it represents good value for money. I will be handing my copy on to a young lady of exquisite style who has begun her textiles GCSE…but I’ll be keeping the larger model template sheets for next time I fancy a bit of gentle fashion designing myself!